May 6th is Teacher Appreciation Day - thank a teacher!

Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries sent the following message to all educators in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day on Tuesday:

Dear New Haven Public Schools Educators,

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the work that you do every day to teach our kids.

This work is often not easy. We are challenged by the stories we encounter of students with little to eat at night, who fall asleep to the sounds of police sirens in their neighborhood and don’t always come in to school with clean clothes. We balance nurturing our students with preparing them for the rigor of their futures in college, career, and life. Everything we do feels high-stakes – we must come through for these kids every day and do our best to ensure their success while maintaining our own lives or families and juggling our personal responsibilities.

Yet every day you arrive to your schools early – often before the sun is up during those long winter months – and you teach, support, praise, model, discipline, and care for our kids all day long, often in the midst of the unexpected meetings, printer jams, fire drills, and nosebleeds. On top of it all, you give of your time after school to tutor, coach, mentor, run student organizations, meet with parents, and grade papers. You’re at student sporting events and recitals on the weekends. You refer to those kids that walk into your classroom every morning as “my kids.” You care and give so much to this work, and it shows, but sometimes you aren’t always recognized for that and some days are more tiring than others, more exhausting than rewarding.

One day isn’t enough to say thanks for what you do. Know that every day counts because you’re making a difference. Thank you very much for your service to our students, our families, and our district.
Sincerely,